MTV Productions/Films/Whatever has, without a doubt, among the worst production slates of any of the little “boutique” studios that spring up like crabgrass through the Hollywood blacktop. That’s why it was such a surprise when this little insightful and wicked gem popped its head out of the whorish birth canal that spawned such stillborn chlamydia-dust as DEAD MAN ON CAMPUS.

ELECTION is a film about the little lies we tell ourselves and the falsehoods we believe in order to make it through our days, filtered through the all-too-familiar lens of school student council elections. Jim McAllister (Matthew Broderick) is a popular civics teacher who’s good at his job, yet is trapped in a sterile marriage. As student council advisor he’s well-acquainted with Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon), a preternaturally able junior who runs nearly every club in school based on the virtue of, well, that’s what she’s probably done since kindergarten. McAllister has some personal problems with Tracy, so he convinces the affably dimwitted football star Paul Metzler (Chris Klein) to run against her for student council president. Tracy, who’s seemingly had to work very little for her success and feels owed the student council presidency, is livid with McAllister, and even more so when Paul’s adopted lesbian sister Tammy (Jessica Campbell) decides to run as well to spite everyone. It all goes to hell from there.

Broderick has never had this juicy a part to hide in before, and both instantly counterpoints Ferris Bueller and makes us forget him. Jim McAllister is a nice yet dull guy whose desire for some spice in his life is answered all-too horribly. Reese Witherspoon, normally as bland as Midwestern pork products, adds real zest as the consumed yet naïve Tracy, proof that a strong director like Alexander Payne can coach a good performance even out of people I’d consider non-actors. Speaking of non-actors, this is Chris Klein’s first film role. Klein has essentially played the same “dumb but good” role ever since, but since viewers didn’t know that going in, he limns the part nicely.

Broderick, Witherspoon, and Klein are fantastic, but the real architects here are Payne and screenwriter Jim Taylor. They show real restraint and timing in their execution of this morally complex tale, intersecting and re-weaving themes, leitmotifs and imagery, and obviously having one hell of a time while doing it. The fact that a film this well-paced came from MTV will probably keep scientists busier for longer than on that damned superstring theory or the human genome project. By the time McAllister receives a sharp bee sting to the eye as a Biblically-appropriate stripe for his lechery and lust, it’s obvious that this movie is working on a completely different level of anti-social commentary, one that wasn’t matched again until FIGHT CLUB.

What really makes this film work is its tackling of difficult truths in a lively and comedic manner utilizing characters who are utterly familiar and complex in their simplicity. Tracy’s struggle for acceptance and validation, McAllister’s cowing to sexual demons followed by his internal justification of his own actions and his ultimate act of revenge, Paul’s misunderstanding and blissfulness toward complex issues, and Tammy’s notion that whatever female lover she takes is “The One” are issues and peccadilloes we pick aprt in other people yet are quick to deny in ourselves. Fact is, we all got ‘em, and they’re not going away, especially since they’re too painful to admit to. Just like real student council elections, our own frailties clutter up our lives with inevitable uselessness. Nobody is “right” or “wrong” in this movie, they’re just a collection of neuroses, biases, and justifications.

Topping all this off like a diamond balanced on a $1,000 hooker’s ass is a biting, wicked, and black sense of humor. There are belly laughs, meanspirited guffaws, and painful "I didn’t really see that, did I?” chuckles. We’ve known Jim McAllisters and disliked Tracy Flicks all our lives, and when they collide it’s the funniest train wreck you’re likely to see this or any season.